Convicted Lincoln meth lab operator faces new charges

LINCOLN, Maine — A local man convicted in 2002 of operating a methamphetamine lab in his West Broadway home was sentenced to five days in jail after police said they found him in possession of bath salts early Friday and he later admitted it in court.

Joseph P. Mansur, 55, began serving his sentence at Penobscot County Jail after an appearance at Penobscot Judicial Center on Friday, a jail spokesman said.

Mansur was arrested and charged with possession of a synthetic hallucinogenic and violation of his conditions of release at 12:37 a.m. Friday after Lincoln police Sgt. Glenn Graef searched Mansur’s West Broadway apartment, Police Chief William Lawrence said.

The drug possession charge qualifies as a Class D misdemeanor, which can bring a sentence of up to a year in jail and fine of up to $2,000.

Mansur also received a concurrent two-day jail sentence for violating conditions of release and was fined $400.

Graef said he saw Mansur walking into his apartment. Aware that Mansur’s bail conditions legally permitted searches of Mansur and his residence at any time, Graef found two syringes, two small glass bottles and two baggies containing a white powder residue, Lawrence said.

Police tested liquid in the bottles, Lawrence said, and found that it was bath salts, an illegal hallucinogenic synthetic drug available as a powder or liquid that can cause agitation, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pains and heart attacks in its victims.

At that time Mansur was charged with four counts of aggravated furnishing of drugs, including hallucinogenic drugs (bath salts) and schedule W, Y and Z drugs; unlawful possession of an unscheduled drug, methamphetamine; and unlawful possession of cocaine.

In the October incident, Graef said he found a small amount of oxycodone pills and marijuana in the car, plus 60 grams of cocaine and other drugs that he said Mansur tried to hide in the back seat of the police cruiser.

Graef and Officers Jacob Ferland, Jeffrey Rice and John Walsh later found 5.3 ounces of marijuana, 4.1 grams of illegal narcotics fashioned from mushrooms, 30 milligrams of Ritalin, 17.1 grams of bath salts, methamphetamine and more than $884 in cash in Mansur’s home, Lawrence said.

Prosecutors dismissed counts of unlawful possession of oxycodone and unlawful possession of a scheduled drug in December in connection with the October arrest, but several of the other October charges against Mansur are still pending, Lawrence said.

Mansur was sentenced to a suspended six-year prison sentence and served two years in prison and four years of probation in April 2002 after Maine and federal drug enforcement agents raided his home in March 2001 and found evidence of a methamphetamine manufacturing operation.